I am going to my local Tea Shop Of Awesome tomorrow. I will be buying tea. I will also be looking longingly at the variable-temp kettles and checking the price tags and hoping for a sale.

If you are in the US or Canada, the Cuisinart is cheapest at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20 off coupon. The Hamilton Beach posted above from Amazon looks good too..Under $40. I'm thinking of buying that to take to my parties so I don't have to disturb my Cuisinart from its glory spot on my counter. Lol.

Now I'm sad that the Hamilton Beach kettle doesnt seem to be available for the UK any more, im currently using a noisy timer plug in my kitchen to get my kettle to boil ready for my sleepy arrival in the morning

I agree. Thanks to this thread, there is another item on my "I want that" list. Last year, I got my first crock pot thanks to these threads. An electric kettle will be next. Then maybe a rice cooker but I don't know anything about them.

I really appreciate the recommendations. DH does all of our cooking and I don't know the first thing about kitchen stuff to buy for him. I want something nice because, well, he deserves it for all of the effort of cooking and cleaning. It is much appreciated!

Rice cookers are glorious creations, and something I consider to be an essential kitchen appliance now. My husband is from SE Asia, and a rice cooker was the very first appliance he bought upon moving here. Neither of us have any idea how to cook rice on the stove (and when we try, it ends up being terrible). Since you can get a perfectly nice rice cooker for about $30, I see no reason not to own one. I don't eat much rice, but my husband would feel pretty bereft without it. And it helps that you can cook just about any variety of rice in them, not just white rice.

I am going to my local Tea Shop Of Awesome tomorrow. I will be buying tea. I will also be looking longingly at the variable-temp kettles and checking the price tags and hoping for a sale.

If you are in the US or Canada, the Cuisinart is cheapest at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20 off coupon. The Hamilton Beach posted above from Amazon looks good too..Under $40. I'm thinking of buying that to take to my parties so I don't have to disturb my Cuisinart from its glory spot on my counter. Lol.

Nope... Australia. And while the Tea Shop Of Awesome has Cuisinart variable-temp kettles, they are not electric, they are not on sale, and my budget will not stretch to $150 to improve my tea consumption.

(It's a good thing I didn't decide it could - the battery in the car died about two hours later and I ended up spending $160-ish to replace that instead! )

I am going to my local Tea Shop Of Awesome tomorrow. I will be buying tea. I will also be looking longingly at the variable-temp kettles and checking the price tags and hoping for a sale.

If you are in the US or Canada, the Cuisinart is cheapest at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20 off coupon. The Hamilton Beach posted above from Amazon looks good too..Under $40. I'm thinking of buying that to take to my parties so I don't have to disturb my Cuisinart from its glory spot on my counter. Lol.

Nope... Australia. And while the Tea Shop Of Awesome has Cuisinart variable-temp kettles, they are not electric, they are not on sale, and my budget will not stretch to $150 to improve my tea consumption.

(It's a good thing I didn't decide it could - the battery in the car died about two hours later and I ended up spending $160-ish to replace that instead! )

Yikes! When it rains, it pours! Non Electric variable temp kettles? I wonder how those work?

UK. I'm astounded to learn that people can actually survive without an electric kettle. Astounded.

I'm still having trouble surviving without the electric outlet on my stove. They are part of all stoves in Canada, but not in the US. I sometimes STILL go to plug my kettle into the outlet on the stove and get the rude reminder... lol

I am going to my local Tea Shop Of Awesome tomorrow. I will be buying tea. I will also be looking longingly at the variable-temp kettles and checking the price tags and hoping for a sale.

If you are in the US or Canada, the Cuisinart is cheapest at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20 off coupon. The Hamilton Beach posted above from Amazon looks good too..Under $40. I'm thinking of buying that to take to my parties so I don't have to disturb my Cuisinart from its glory spot on my counter. Lol.

Nope... Australia. And while the Tea Shop Of Awesome has Cuisinart variable-temp kettles, they are not electric, they are not on sale, and my budget will not stretch to $150 to improve my tea consumption.

(It's a good thing I didn't decide it could - the battery in the car died about two hours later and I ended up spending $160-ish to replace that instead! )

Yikes! When it rains, it pours! Non Electric variable temp kettles? I wonder how those work?

They had a little dial on the side with a pointer to tell you what temperature they were up to, and were the sort you sit on a stovetop. I shoulda taken a picture.

UK. I'm astounded to learn that people can actually survive without an electric kettle. Astounded.

I can totally understand since you're in the UK. I don't know that I qualify as an anglophile but most of my fave authors are from the UK so I feel as if I understand the importance of the kettle even though I felt no need for it. I'm an inveterate water drinker, so after my morning cappuccino, I'm guzzling H2O. I don't drink pop or juice. I used to love iced tea and my coffee was made with an electric coffeemaker (Bunn or percolator). If I want hot chocolate I heat up milk on the stove and I don't do instant soups or oatmeal so no need for boiling water for that.

But when I met and fell in love with my French Press, I needed a kettle. I still haven't bought an electric one as my 7qt stovetop is fine but I did convince my mom to buy one when I got her a French Press last year and she loves it! She said she didn't realize how handy it is to quickly be able to boil water for all sorts of things, including her press.

Nope... Australia. And while the Tea Shop Of Awesome has Cuisinart variable-temp kettles, they are not electric, they are not on sale, and my budget will not stretch to $150 to improve my tea consumption.

(It's a good thing I didn't decide it could - the battery in the car died about two hours later and I ended up spending $160-ish to replace that instead! )

They seem to average at about $120 here. I found some for $59 new on Ebay though.

UK. I'm astounded to learn that people can actually survive without an electric kettle. Astounded.

I can totally understand since you're in the UK. I don't know that I qualify as an anglophile but most of my fave authors are from the UK so I feel as if I understand the importance of the kettle even though I felt no need for it. I'm an inveterate water drinker, so after my morning cappuccino, I'm guzzling H2O. I don't drink pop or juice. I used to love iced tea and my coffee was made with an electric coffeemaker (Bunn or percolator). If I want hot chocolate I heat up milk on the stove and I don't do instant soups or oatmeal so no need for boiling water for that.

But when I met and fell in love with my French Press, I needed a kettle. I still haven't bought an electric one as my 7qt stovetop is fine but I did convince my mom to buy one when I got her a French Press last year and she loves it! She said she didn't realize how handy it is to quickly be able to boil water for all sorts of things, including her press.

7 qt kettle sounds huge! I use an 8qt pot to make my big batches of chili or Chicken Tortilla soup. LOL

One thing I have learned is never to reboil water to consume tea. I always use just about the amount I will need for a cup and possibly have a bit more left for the time period the kettle keeps it warm. I have a hard time explaining why not to reboil, but this link explains it far better than I ever could:

Sparksals, I'll definitely check out that link, because I tend to add water instead of dumping and starting with fresh. I clean it out 1x/week.

Yeah I picked up this 7 qt. stainless steel kettle at an Amish store in the area. I don't know if they just needed a kettle because they'll have anywhere from 8-18 kids or if it serves double use to put on a wood-burner to put moisture in the house. It just comes in handy for us because I put a small amount of water in it to boil for coffee, but when I'm entertaining, I keep it full and simmering for when my girlfriends want their hot tea!

US here. We have a Keurig and use the hot water on that for tea. It can brew without a little cup thingy (yes this is the technical term) for hot water. Much like many Australians and British cannot image living without a kettle, I cannot live without a very good rice cooker. I am half Japanese and the rice cooker has to be from Japan (meaning that my mom sends me one from Hawaii). Costco has a very nice 5.5 cup that is about $70-80. And much like tea prep, rice prep is not just counting cups and adding water. You must wash the rice till the water is clear. Its the way it has to be lol.

US here. We have a Keurig and use the hot water on that for tea. It can brew without a little cup thingy (yes this is the technical term) for hot water. Much like many Australians and British cannot image living without a kettle, I cannot live without a very good rice cooker. I am half Japanese and the rice cooker has to be from Japan (meaning that my mom sends me one from Hawaii). Costco has a very nice 5.5 cup that is about $70-80. And much like tea prep, rice prep is not just counting cups and adding water. You must wash the rice till the water is clear. Its the way it has to be lol.